Business Rights Watch

Even before 9/11, the National Security Agency went to Qwest Communications and asked it to turn over Americans’ phone records without a warrant. Under the leadership of then-CEO Joseph P. Nacchio, and on the advice of lawyers, Qwest refused.

The Institute for Justice, which is championing the cause of food trucks, is celebrating the demise of some proposed regulations here in D.C. as a “Big win for economic liberty!”

“We never shut down,” said Vernon Hershberger. His farm was raided, and he was put on trial for operating without a license. But his buyers’ club “continued to feed our community. That’s the way it continued all along.”

After a widespread outcry, European officials have canceled plans to tightly regulate the olive oil served in restaurants.

“The absurdity of its premise — that Dow could escape liability for an illegal antitrust conspiracy because plaintiffs alleged a longer conspiracy than found by the jury — convinces the court that it should not [let Dow off the hook.]”

In an effort to avoid fines, Google has proposed concessions to its rivals and European antitrust authorities.

Reuters describes the concessions in a way that seems natural—but it’s worth considering what these concessions actually mean. I’ve commented on two of them; I invite you to consider the others.

The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to stop trying to prevent beer makers AB InBev and Grupo Modelo from merging.

Unlike last time I went to a Senate antitrust hearing, I heard nothing scandalous at today’s. Nothing, except everything.

Regulators have restricted so much finance-related speech that people in the industry now have to lobby for the freedom to use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn like the rest of us. Or almost like the rest of us.

Speech regulation can make social networks dangerous for executives in other fields, too. Reed Hastings came under threat for boasting that Netflix had streamed a billion hours of video in one month.

If you think antitrust is about fair competition, take a look at this: Delta and Virgin Atlantic are asking the U.S. Department of Transportation for a free pass to coordinate their U.S.-U.K. flight schedules. It seems such coordination might normally violate antitrust law, but the DOT can waive antitrust law to help certain companies.